Category Archives: On reading

Summer Reading

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“Summer Reading”… those two words evoke wonderful memories, and always fill me with anticipation for the great reads of the next few months. Our library is still in lockdown for the quarantine, but hopefully it will reopen soon and my summer can include walks to the library every few days. And, of course, I plan to do much of my reading on the porch!

I don’t have a specific plan or list for my summer reading, but there are a couple of books I have in mind that would be perfect summer reading. The first one, which I’ve already started, is The Solitary Summer, by Elizabeth von Arnim. It’s turning out to be a perfectly delightful porch read!

And I ordered a 4 book series called “A Gardening Mystery,” by Mary Freeman. The books were hard to find, but they seemed like the perfect combination of my favorites: mysteries and gardening. I hope they turn out to be a lot of fun!

And there are lots of books on my Classics Club list, and my personal challenges lists. I have so much to read, so it won’t be difficult at all to fill up the summer with pleasurable reading.

Howard’s End is on the Landing

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The audiobook I am currently listening to is Howard’s End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home, by Susan Hill. It’s a book that has been on my TBR list for a long time but I just never got around to moving it to the top of the list. When I discovered that it was available from Audible, I downloaded it and started listening. I am so enjoying it (!) but realized immediately that I needed the book itself to refer to, so I ordered it from the library. Happily, it came in quickly and I have been reading and listening to my double pleasure. But now I have realized that this is a book I need to own, so I have ordered my own copy and it should be arriving shortly. That’s high praise for a book, don’t you think?

A Bit Obsessed

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I have to confess that I’ve been a bit obsessed in the last few weeks. Pinterest does that to one, of course. One quiet afternoon, I decided to start a new Pinterest page dedicated only to my reading and connect it to this blog. It was so much fun setting it up and then searching for the photos I wanted! So if you have a quiet, lazy afternoon, perhaps you could check it out. It’s just another place to share the books I have read and loved over the years!

Click here to visit my A Fondness For Reading Pinterest page…

Set Aside For Now

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On my Goodreads page, I have a category called “Set Aside For Now.” I sometimes start a book only to discover that it is not the right book for me or not the right time for me to be reading that book. I give it a good try and then move it into that category, without guilt. Later, I’ve given numerous set-asides another try and really enjoyed them. Some languish in that category for years before I give them another try or pronounce them a DNF.

This week I moved a book into that category. I love the books of D.E. Stevenson, in particular her “Miss Bunkle” books. I started the first book in her “Drumberley” series, Vittoria Cottage, and was enjoying it until some wording hit me hard. She started using the “N” word in conversations, and it stopped me.

I have read many books in which that word comes up, but this time it hit me harder. In the last few years, and on a daily basis, we have been inundated with blatant racism, misogyny, cruelty, bullying, unfairness, and manipulation in our daily lives through both news and personal encounters. I do not accept these encounters silently now, for there is too much at stake.

So I set that book aside for now…until I can put that part of the story into the historical/cultural context of the time, understand better the life of the author, and/or until I decide that the book is worthy of my time and emotional energy.

I am not trying to “escape” in my reading these days. I take on some pretty serious subjects, but I am very aware of my emotional vulnerabilities and the overwhelming amount of daily exposure to the negatives in life. I am trying to be more mindful in my choices…to choose things to read that honor the goodness, the strength, the resilience of the human spirit. To choose things to read that are beautifully written, especially if the subject is a difficult one. And to choose my “entertainments,” as Graham Greene called his own books, with care.

 

The Compliment of a Lifetime

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There are times when I really miss spending my days with school children. When I first started teaching, one of my wise teammates suggested that I keep a file in my desk drawer to keep the nice notes and cards from students and parents over the years. I took her advice and still have that treasured file, even though I’ve been retired for five years. While I was going through a box of my old teaching materials the other day, looking for something for my grandson, I pulled that file out and reread some of those notes and best wishes. One stood out for me and felt like the “compliment of a lifetime.” It had to do with reading aloud with my students, something that was the anchor of my day with all the different groups of children I worked with over my twenty-seven year career. A mom wrote it to me toward the end of a school year, just a short note on a nice little card, and it still warms my heart.

Since my daughter is going to miss reading books with you more than anything else in her school life so far — would you have any recommendations for summer reading, books you wish you would have had more time to read with the class?

Emmie gave her Dad a copy of “Danny Champion of the World” for his birthday, because it was so good she wanted to read it with him!!